Setting up a mage?

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Just a few questions to all the spell casting fiends outhere . How would you guys setup the ability scores for a pure half elf mage of good alignment ? I know INT is important but what of the other scores ? What factors do they play ? (take in to consideration items found along the way ) Also when you import a character into bg2 can you change his class ? e.g fighter to wizard slayer ? As always thanks for all your help guys .

[ December 22, 2005, 23:38: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

STR determines how much damage you do in melee combat, but for a mage that doesn't matter. It also determines carrying capacity, though.

DEX is essential for low-armor characters like the mage. It reduces the chance that you will be hit by any attack (by lowering AC), as well as increasing your chance of hitting someone with a ranged weapon (for when your mage runs out of spells).

CON helps, but is not essential. A CON of 16 will get your mage 2 extra HP/level, but more than that is just wasting points. You might also consider starting it at 15 since you can get a tome to raise it fairly early in the game.

INT is the stat for mages, as you already know.

WIS doesn't matter in BG1, but once you get to BG2, it will matter for Wish and Limited Wish spells, as well as a few stat-dependant dialogs. There are plenty of Potions of Insight in the game for such times, though, so it's your call.

CHA matters for the leader of the party. It can get you discounts at stores, and will help you get better reactions from the people you talk to. Of course, you can always get someone else to lead your party for in towns, as you might need to for in the wild where you won't want your mage in the front. Also, there's a ring very early in BG2 that will bump your CHA up to 18 as long as you're wearing it.

Ultimately, you'll probably want to put 18 in DEX, 18 in INT, 15 in CON, and spread the rest among the others. Personally I won't have a character without 18 CHA because I don't want to be switching leaders all the time, and STR will be at least decent because carrying capacity is rather important IMO, but it's up to you to determine what your priorities are.

 

stats:
16 con, 18 str,dex,int,cha and the remainig 3-10 points to wis. If your roll isn't that good, lower either strength or charisma (not both).

strength: affects melee damage and how much weight you can carry. It's annoying if you have to shift around or leave looted items because your party members aren't strong enough.

dexterity: 18 dex gives an +2 THAC0 bonus using slings and, much more important, +4 bonus to armor class.

constitution: With 16 or more you get 2 bonus hitpoints per level. Since mages get only 1-4 HP/level they are really needed.

int: the prime stat for mages. Not as important as dex or con, since you'll hardly use more than 5-6 different spells per level and you can just reload after a failed spell scribing attempt.

wis: nearly useless for mages. It doesn't affect magic resistance like written in the manual, it only affects lore. Your other party members or the spell can identify items as well.

cha: affects quest rewards and item prices in shops(use the friends spell !). Just do the prologue quests (Hull's sword and the buy crossbow bolts quest) with 18 cha first and with a 3-17 cha character later for comparison.
You'll find many NPCs with 16-17 cha who can be the party diplomats if your mage's cha is lower.


For each stat you might find 1 book which raises it by one point when used.
You might find 1 pair of gauntlets which set dex to 18, but your other party members will need them more.


You can change main class to a new available subclass when importing to BG2 if the requirements are met, especially fighter to wizard slayer.
You cannot change your mage.


You don't need high wis for the wish spells in BG2 since you can have your party priest initiate the dialogue instead of waiting for the genie to talk to the caster.

[ December 20, 2005, 01:42: Message edited by: kmonster ]

 

Not quite true. While you can't change your mage to a wizardslayer or anything else that involves a change of class, there are still 8 specialist kits (9 w/ ToB) that you can apply to a vanilla mage if he's imported from BG1 to BG2.

 

Felinoid is right. As long as you fit the min stats for any of the specialist mages then you can go from a pure mage to a specialist mage when switching from BG to BG2. Wild Mage I think is open to any pure mage when switching but I could be wrong.

Also in BG you can get a total of two Wisdom Tome's and if you have ToSC then you can get a third.

 

Yes, wild mage is the ninth I was talking about, but it does require ToB to be installed.

 

Here's my suggestion for a pure mage.

Strength - 10: basically how much you can carry

Dexterity - 18: lower AC and better to-hit chances when using missile weapons

Constitution - 16: +2 to HP/level and I like HP

Intelligence - 18: the stat for mages, counts towards number of spells known in your spellbook and identifying things with lore.

Wisdom - 10-18: adds to lore. I would put points here before upping Str or Cha

Charisma - 10: helps get you NPCs to join, though Ajantis, Safana, Imoen and Jaheira have decent charisma to be party leader(s)

A good mage would have stats like:
Str 10
Dex 18
Con 15-16
Int 18
Wis 15-18
Cha 10

That's between 86-90, depending on how you want your mage built. Rolling that much isn't hard, just a test of patience.

 

What's the min stats for dual from fighter to mage?

And, would dualing from fighter to mage before BG2, give you the option to specialize? (Just wonderin').

 

Min stats for F->M is 15 STR and 17 INT. On importing to BG2, you will get the opportunity to kit your first class, the fighter. I'm not sure how BG2 would handle a fighter dualled to a specialist in BG1, though.

 

For a roll of 92 if you are roll-playing:

Str 13
Dex 18
Con 15
Int 18
Wis 14
Cha 14

By games end:

Str 14
Dex 19
Con 16
Int 19
Wis 17
Cha 15

If you are willing to shadow keeper stats to 97 (I use 97 because that's 1 more than the 96 Sarevok has and the PC is better than him)

Str 15
Dex 18
Con 15
Int 18
Wis 14
Cha 17

By games end:

Str 16
Dex 19
Con 16
Int 19
Wis 17
Cha 18

 

You get turned into a vanilla mage.

 

Great suggestions on optimal stats!

For an alternative fun game: just roll, and take your favorite without swapping points around. For a challenge, take the first or second roll!

A Mage really only needs INT. After that, you shouldn't worry too much, because the other stats really only help you if you get into trouble (and as a Mage, you should be recruiting a lot of tanks, and a tanks job is to protect the mage!).

If you play your cards right, no other stat will come into play, unless your mage does the talking.

 

excellent advice guys ...... thanks again , your'e a bunch of lifesavers , -ring of wizardry here i come !

 

Klorox: (yes i realise i have alot of strnage buddies that like playing even stranger characters) Another one of my buddies played through most of BG2 with a LE elf wizard with stats: str3, dex7, con2, int9, wis3, cha8 (or whatever pass for minimum elf stats). With use of potions you dont need INT even

 

@ Starwalker: Actually there are 3 wis tomes.

* One in the top of Durlag's tower.
* One underneath Candlekeep
* You can keep the one from the Lothander's geas spell as wel. Just tell Mystmyr that you want to have the scroll first, then tell her you don't have the book. Then kill em all.

 

@Cantalos:
That's what my posts says without stating exactly where they are. You should have put a Spoiler marking before listing their exact locations. I do know quite exactly where they are at and how to give them and could have provided that information if it was wanted.

That still does not change that there are 2 in the core game and 1 in Tales of the Sword Coast. Since Durlag's is only an option if you do own the expansion. This is exactly what I posted in my previous statement without going into real detail. 2+1=3 the last time I did my math.

 

As long as you have the minimum stats 10-18-16-18-3-3 you shouldn't get in trouble because of your stats. You can consider the remaining points as bonus.

The area of the tome which raises con is neither easy nor needed for game progress, so it will take long until you get it.
Consider this if you want to start with 15 con.

To avoid getting frustrated because of the few spells you can cast before you have to rest (only 1 at level1, 2 at level2, ...) you can create a specialist, illusionist is the best class, gnome the best race.

 

As another possible suggestion, constitution isn't that important for a mage. I mean, if you character is getting hit with missile weapons, cast mirror image, and if you character is getting hit by melee weapons, you're doing something wrong. An additional 2 HP per level is nice, but certainly not necessary. I mean, the highest mage you can get by the end of BG1 is level 9, so even with a 16 in Con, you're still looking at a maximum of 54, which is hardly tank material. Regardless of whether you have 54 or 36, you're still staying out of harm's way. Furthermore, it frees up a LOT of points for other stats. If you aren't making your Con a minimum of 15 to start out, then there's really no point in making it more than 7, which frees up a bunch of points for things like Wis and Cha.

 

If I was going for a pure mage I would go either with a gnome or Elf. Gnomes get a bonus in Int and Elf's get a bonus in Dex, both are beneficial. The Elf's dex bonus can help you hit enemies with your throwing weapons because a dex of 19 gives you a +3 to hit vs. the +2 from a 18 dex. Now if you go with a gnome you don't need to worry about the number of spells in your spellbook because a Int of 19 will let you write as many spells in your spells book.

As for stats for a puer mage here are what I recommend.

Str 10-12 You're no fighter and all you need is enough strenght to carry the essential items.

Dex 18-19 No matter what anyone else write Dex is very important for a mage. 18 give you a +4 to AC and a +2 to attack with missile weapons. 19 gives you a +3 for missile weapons, could be worth it to you.

Con 16 - As a mage you don't get many HP per a HD and you need as many as possible. That is why a 16 is recommened. Since you don't get the extra bonuses beyond +2, any thing higher in this stat is worthless, unless you take a gnome which does help your saving throws.

Int 18-19 This is your prime stats. If you take gnome as your race you can write all spells in your spellbook.

Wis 10-18 This stats does one main thing and that is help you get the good limited and wish spell selection. As others have stats their are potions that will raise your Wis when you cast the wish spells.

Cha 18 Yeah there is a ring of Human Influence right off in the start of the game, but since your a mage you want to wear the rings they will grant you extra spell levels.

[ December 22, 2005, 16:51: Message edited by: Abdel - Bhaal Spawn ]

 

You confused BG1 with BG2.